332 Animal Husbandry 
cabbage, sprouted oats, green clover, or other succulent feed, unless 
running on a grass-covered range. Grit, cracked oyster shells, 
bone, and charcoal should be accessible at all times. Green food 
should not be fed in frozen condition. All food and litter should 
be strictly sweet, clean, and free from mustiness, mold, or decay. 
Serious losses frequently occur from disease, due to the fowls 
taking into their bodies, through the intestinal tract or lungs, 
the spores of the fungus-causing molds. 
533. Amount to feed. — ‘ Another important point to empha- 
size in feeding is that there should be food available up to the limit 
of a hen’s capacity to eat, so that the high-productive hen shall not 
suffer from lack of something to eat. The method of dry feeding 
in a hopper makes it possible for the hen to take food when she 
likes. Formerly, in wet mash feeding, the amount hens could eat 
depended upon the good or bad judgment of the person who fed. 
For the person who will watch his hens and feed each day just what 
whole grain ‘they need to keep the appetite right and the hens 
_ happy and busy, the dry feed-hopper for ground grain not only 
insures against underfeeding but also saves time. 
534. Condition of fowls. — “ The proper physical condition of 
the hen is an important point that needs to be taken into considera- 
tion. We must give a hen all she will eat of the right kinds of 
food, so that she may have surplus energy in the form of fat. The 
experience of years proves this to be true. More people overfeed 
than underfeed their hens. The hen must be fed, not only a ration 
having the correct nutritive ratio, but must be fed the right quan- 
tity, so that she will carry some surplus fat in her body. The 
ovum (yolk of the egg) is sixty-four per cent fat and is practi- 
cally the only fat that is within the egg. Apparently a hen can- 
not function properly unless she has. surplus fat in her body to 
put into the ova. , 
535. Mineral matter. — ‘“‘ We would emphasize the fact that 
we must feed lime in the form of oyster shells and also in the form 
of bone meal, granulated bone, or green cut bone, so that the fowls 
